文档介绍：CONCEPTIONS OF MENTORING AND MENTORING PRACTICE IN ALTERNATIVE SECONDARY SCIENCE TEACHER EDUCATION
THOMAS R. KOBALLA, Jr.
University of ia
******@
LESLIE UPSON BRADBURY
Appalachian State University
******@
CYNTHIA MINCHEW DEATON
University of ia
******@
SHAWN M. GLYNN
University of ia
******@
Abstract: Conceptions of mentoring held by six mentors and six beginning science
teachers in an alternative certification program were explored qualitatively by means of case studies and phenomenography. Interviews with the six mentors and six beginning teachers produced 379 statements that were grouped into three conceptual categories. The categories of apprenticeship, personal support and co-learning and their sub-categories revealed the variation in how mentors and beginning teachers in an alternative certification program conceptualized school-based mentoring. The conceptions of the mentors and beginning teachers functioned as referents for their mentoring practice.
Mentoring as apprenticeship was the dominant conception among both the beginning teachers and mentors. The findings of this study imply that conceptions of mentoring held by mentors and beginning science teachers should be considered anizing the school-ponent of alternative certification programs.
Science educators advocate mentoring as a means of fostering the professional growth of beginning teachers, particularly teachers entering the profession through alternative certification routes (Abell, Dillon, Hopkins, McInerney, & O’Brien, 1995; Alsop & Benson, 1996; Jarvis, McKeon, Coats, & Vause, 2001). Mentoring provides opportunities for beginning science teachers in alternative certification programs to obtain the support and guidance not readily available to them through other means (Luft, Roehrig, & Patterson, 2003). Mentoring is often linked to the retention and continued ess of all beginning science teachers through the development petencies in teaching,